TenTonHammer's Guide to Scholomance

Update

As of Patch 1.10, the Scholomance, Stratholme and Blackrock Depths instances have been dropped to normal 5 man instances. It is no longer possible to raid the instances with 10 men. The guide has been updated to reflect these changes.

Location

Scholomance is located in the south edge of the Western Plaugelands, on the
island of Caer Darrow. For Horde, there is no flight path in the vicinity, so
the best routes to take to get to the island is by Going to the Undercity by
flight path, or the Undead zeppelin tower, then mount up and ride through the
Bulwark to the east. From here in the Western Plaugelands, ride into the middle,
then head directly south through the water to the isle. You may also get to Caer
Darrow by taking the flight path to Light's Hope Chapel, and then continue west
into the Western Plaugelands.

For the Alliance, it is really easy. Fly to the flightpoint in WP or fly to
Aerie Peak in Hinterlands and run through path in mountains. Both are about a 3
min mount ride from the instance. There is only one instance door to Scholomance
and it requires a key that any may get by completing a series of quests in the
Western Plaugelands. Do the following quests to get the key, Horde: Get the
quests from High Executor Derrington, at the Bulwark, in Tirisfal Glades.
Complete the Scourge Cauldron series of quest and also All Along the
Watchtowers. He will eventually unlock the key quest then: Scholomance, and send
you to Apothecary Dithers, who will give you the Skeletal Fragments quest.
Follow this easy series of quests and you will be sent to Gadgetzan, Ungoro
Crater, where you will have to complete a few steps, and then back to Apothecary
Dithers who will give you the quest Araj's Scarab (Elite). You will need a
good full group for this one, you will have to spawn the Lich Araj in Andorhal,
and to defeat him and loot his scarab. After this step is completed, go back to
dithers; you will be rewarded with your key to Scholomance.

Alliance: The alliance quest is a mirror from the Horde one. The alliance got
exactly the same set of NPCs in Alterac Mountains, at the border of Western
Plaugelands; they got their equivalent of the Horde's Bulwark. Finish the quests
given by Commander Ashlam Valorfist until he gives the Scholomance quest. To get
to the entrance once you get to Caer Darrow Island, follow the winding path
through the ruined buildings, and it will bring you to two doors, the instance
being on the left side.

Time

It will take about two to three hours to finish Scholomance. It may take longer if you do optional encounters/quests.

Party Composition

As this is a high level (or end game) instance, party composition plays a huge
part in your success or failure in the instance. Because you can do this
instance as a group or a raid, I have sub-divided this section to show the best
composition for each.

Group composition

As of patch 1.10 you can only have five adventurers inside of Scholomance at any given time. This means that lower leveled players generally can no longer be as effective as a full party of level 60s. The good news is, however, it’s much easier to obtain loot as each drop is shared with five players instead of ten!

As with any instance group, you must consider the following as priorities when forming the group: healing, damage, tanking, and crowd control. Healing can be done by Priests, Paladins, Druids, or Shamans, damage can be done by Hunters, Paladins, Rogues, Warriors, Warlocks, and Mages, tanking can be done by Warriors, Druids, and Paladins, and finally crowd control can be done by Mages, Warlocks, and in rare instances Paladins.

Using this knowledge we can pretty much form a solid group right off of the bat. A Warrior, Mage, and Priest would create the perfect base of healing, tanking, and crowd control. This is the absolute best combination as it provides 90% of everything you need to succeed in the dungeon. The last two spots should be filled by a damage dealer and a hybrid support character. A good damage dealer would be a Rogue, Hunter, or Warlock while the hybrid support character can be Paladin, Shaman, or Druid.

With this in mind, an ideal group would look something like Warrior, Mage, Priest, Rogue, and Paladin. Another ideal group could be a Warrior, Mage, Priest, Hunter, and Druid. In each of these groups you have Healing, Damage, Tanking, and Crowd Control taken care of.

Now, you don’t always need a Warrior, Mage, and Priest to succeed. It’s just the easiest combo. I’ve seen Scholomance done successfully with a Paladin, Hunter, Warlock, Druid, and Warrior. I will say though that a Warrior is really a requirement to fully complete Scholomance. True, a Druid or Paladin can tank but they require much better gear then a Warrior would to successfully tank the later boss enemies. I’ve gone through Scholomance in a Paladin, Paladin, Druid, Rogue, and Mage group only to be defeated at the last enemy after trudging through the entire instance.

Scholomance Tactics

When you first enter Scholomance you will find yourself on a set of stairs. This is a safe zone where you are free to buff up and get ready to fight. The entrance to the actual combat area is guarded by two Risen Warders so take those out and open the door. Quickly pull the patrols of Risen Warders who'll come up near the door, into the room you first walk into. Next, go to the stairs and have your rogue/s sap some of the humanoids down to the left, and your mages sheep pull, deal with the humanoids. Avoid fighting in the main room area since some enemies have an AoE fear which can cause you to aggro several groups of enemies. It’s best to fight on the stairs with your melee at the bottom and ranged at the top. Now deal with the group on the other side of the door on the bottom floor. When you open the door, another group will wander over; you can kill them individually or wait for them to move into position. The first of the Deeds for the Barov Family Fortune is in this room as well in the NE corner, near the succubus.

A few Risen Warder’s are located outside of the main door but they should be no problem to deal with. The rest of the room is separated into six groups of two Scholomance Necrolytes, coupled with a Scholomance Dark Summoner. You want to crowd control the Summoner (sap or sheep) and then pull the rest of them back into the entrance to the chamber (walk back through the door, breaks the line of sight quite nicely). As well, one of the great things about running this part with a Priest is allowing him or her to mind control the Summoners, being the most dangerous, and letting the other 2 mobs to kill it for you. It is easy to aggro more than one group of mobs here so you must be extremely careful. Off to the side of the room is the chamber where you summon Kirtonos the Herald, if anyone in your party has completed the quests required to gather Blood of the Innocents, you can use it then to summon him on the brazier. He will enter in his gargoyle form, and then shift into his human form. As long as your tank can keep aggro on him and off the DPS'ers, the group should be fine, but be warned, keep your backs to the wall as he has a nasty knockback.

Kill the mobs at the gate first, and then wait for the patrols to go by and pull in the Warder across the hall. Off to your right will be a group of humanoids with a ghost, have the Priest shackle pull on the ghost, this ghost should be left to last, or dealt with first if you have sufficient humanoid crowd control as he will cast silence in a point blank area of effect. The Adepts have a nasty frost nova type ability, again, which affects people close to them. Slowly kill all the mobs around the small antechamber of the room, and then move into the hall. This room when cleared can lead you in 3 different paths, the exit to your right leads down to Jandice Barov, the exit to the forward of you leads to Rattlegore, and the room to your left leads down to a door that requires a key from Rattlegore. Jandice is a non-compulsory boss mob, but she has the Warlock Dreadmist Mantle on her. Jandice can be quite the difficult encounter so it’s best to avoid her unless someone in your group needs to slay her.

The second deed is in the corner of the room between the doors to Jandice and Rattlegore's rooms.

Jandice Barov is not needed to complete this instance, so feel free to skip this entire part. It’s best to discuss with your group beforehand on whether or not you will do Jandice since it takes a little bit of extra time and not everyone needs to slay her.

In here there is an important thing to note, that all the walls are "magically" not there...but are in the minds of the mobs. They can see through them, though you cannot pass through them. The Risen Aberrations are immune to magic, so don’t waste mana and let the melee duke it out with them. Reanimated Corpses will come back to life about 10-15 seconds after they die. Neither of these are elite so one person should be sufficient to kill them. Note that the Reanimated Corpses walk exactly at the same pace as Hollywood zombies, SLOW, so they can get kited quite easily. The Diseased Ghouls are why most groups don't come here. These will explode on death, dishing out a 350-damage green gas cloud, that re affects you every second, and anyone close to you. They cannot be removed, so melee beware, and cloth stay back. Have your puller pull down the side of the room, and move up when he says it's safe.

For the Jandice fight, she has one interesting trick, occasionally she will split up into about 15 mirror images, and then she herself will come back. If you hit 'V' to display nameplates (assuming you haven't bound 'V' to something else) she will be the only creature there displaying a nameplate, as summoned creatures don't display. Any form of AoE can take care of the images real nicely (a lack of AoE may make this fight near impossible). On the right, there is a torch/switch to open access to a chest as well if you wish to clear to it.

Have your tank pull the dragons and handlers in the smallest groups he can in order to deal with everything safely. Make sure he pulls them back into the Main Hall before everyone opens up with mass AoE. After clearing the room, move across it and then pull up the risen constructs one at a time. They have a hard-hitting close range cleave, so don't be close unless you need to, and try to stand behind it if possible too. As you clear one at a time, you will start to notice that Rattlegore can be pulled without any adds. Very carefully, pull Rattlegore alone, an add may come along. If so, shackle it and deal with the big skeleton. You can stun Rattlegore, so feel free to lock him up as much as possible. He is a tough fight, but keep aggro on him and you will do fine. Once he is down, someone will be able to loot a key, and when it appears, head back to the Main Hall.

Everyone except the tank and the shackler should be sitting in the Main Hall on the purple rug, and your puller bring the groups up to you. If he brings a Risen Bonewarder, kill it as quickly as possible, as he has an area effect 500dps ability called consuming shadows, and it hurts. Shackle the Diseased Ghouls to deal with them last. Clear towards the door to the right and ignore the groups to your left, so it will only be 3 pulls if you hug the wall. Diseased Ghouls (when slain) will place a glowing green cloud on the ground which does a large amount of damage to anyone who stands in it so quickly get away from them once slain.

The Viewing Room

Scholomance Student, Marduk Blackpool, Vectus are all standing around in this
room. Everything here is neutral, and no matter what people may say, you can
talk to the Students. Bypass this room and move to the exit on the far side of
the room.

Pull
and shackle the mobs here at your leisure since the pulls are both humanoid and
undead. The ghosts can banish you for a short period of time, so healers on
their own, watch out. When there is just the Lich and the two Warders, when Ras
moves about, grab the 2 mobs and deal with them quickly, but far away from him.
For the Ras fight, he has an Aoe knock back as well as freezes, which both slow
down your movement. Try to fight in the corner to minimize the distance you have
to close on him to get back into the fight or even better bring him to the stairwell outside of his room. Overall, he is pretty easy. The 3rd
deed is sitting up close to Ras's alter.

You will now enter the Headmaster's Study, though; there are 6 rooms that you
have to go through to finally get to Darkmaster Gandling. In each of the 6
rooms, there are several different kind of mobs and a mini boss, and you must
kill all 6 in order for the Darkmaster to appear.

The Shadow Vault

In the front of the room there are Risen Bonewarders and finally, Lady Illucia
Barov. The Bonewarders do some decent damage, but cant take hits very well, so
shackle and kill quickly. Lady Illucia Barov can mind control one of your party,
if so, remember that both Horde and Alliance can deal with this, Shamans can
purge this, and Priests dispel it as it's a magic buff or if your ally is low on health you can polymorph them to let them regen their health quickly.

Vault of the Ravenian

At the front of the room, expect to see Splintered Skeletons, followed by the
ugly Ravenian. Clear out the skeletons, which have nothing special about them,
then pull the Ravenian and get your tank on it to sunder armor. Beyond this, he
is a brute that hits hard and is very predictable.

Hall of Secrets

Watch out for the Unstable Corpse and Reanimated Corpse that gather here, as
well as Lorekeeper Polkelt. This room has a ton of non-elite corpses, which all
Aoe. Get the tank to pull them up and hold aggro while everyone Aoe's from the
sides. They dish out about 750 damage each when they die, so have the healing
ready for the tank and make sure he doesnt die. Lorekeeper Polkelt doesn't do
anything of note, and in fact has less mana than some of the mages in my guild, so just kill him and get it done with.

Hall of the Damned

Here we find Diseased Ghouls, Risen Aberrations, and the much dreaded Butcher,
Doctor Theolen Krastinov. Have your tank and priest work on shackling and
pulling carefully. Once the Ghouls are gone and it's just the Butcher left, buff
up and get the tank in to hold aggro. Get at least 3-4 sunder armors in before
any other melee or damage gets inflicted on him. He is tough and hits very hard,
so watch your health and have potions ready. When he dies, he also has the
potential to drop the blood.

The Coven

There at the front of this room are Risen Warriors, Scholomance Occultists,
Scholomance Adepts, Scholomance Necromancers, and Instructor Malicia. Deal with
the mobs as you have in the past, but note that the Occultists turn into Shades
before death, and become immune to all physical damage. Cloth and casters take
them down when this happens. There is nothing special during the Instructor
fight, other than she is one of the fastest mini bosses to take down.

Barov Family Vault

There here are 4 Risen Warriors and Lord Alexei Barov. The 2 at the top can be
easily killed, but as soon as they go down, rest and buff up, the hardest part
of the instance is before you. Lord Alexei has a nasty damage aura, and comes
with two guards. I have seen many 10 and 5 man groups wipe here, so execution is
crucial. Always shackle the guard on the left; your Main Tank has the soul job
of occupying Lord Barov and not ever losing aggro on him. The guard on the left
is being picked up by your secondary tank and receiving all focus fire from the
group. As soon as he goes down, have the priest reshackle the other guard, and
support your tank and kill Lord Barov. If he has received good healing, and he
is alive, the rest is pie. You will find the 4th deed in this room as well.

Headmaster's Study

Your hear the Darkmaster bellow out a challenge at this point, but dont let
anyone run out of Barov's room yet. Mana/ health and buff up. It's a pretty
simple boss fight, hold aggro, sunders can reduce him to no armor, keep up the
DPS, the only thing special will be the occasional teleport he'll do of people
into those six rooms just cleared. There are usually 3 mobs in there with you,
but they are "crutched" and you can mosh right on through them in order to
rejoin the fight on the Darkmaster and to re-open the door.

Objectives: Take the blood to the porch. Place it upon the brazier. Kirtonos
will come - he cannot resist. When he appears, unleash the fury and wrath of a
thousand innocent deaths upon him. Fight valiantly, do not give an inch! Destroy
Kirtonos and return to Eva Sarkhoff.
Kirtonos the Herald: 0/1

Objectives: Find Doctor Theolen Krastinov inside the Scholomance. Destroy him,
and then burn the Remains of Eva Sarkhoff and the Remains of Lucien Sarkhoff.
Return to Eva Sarkhoff when the task is complete.

Notes: They each can be found in Hall of the Damned, Barov Family Vault, and the
Shadow Vault.

Objectives: Take the frozen eggs to Betina Bigglezink outside. She is well
learned in science and alchemy, and has produced a weapon we can use against the
Scourge. With your help, we will deal them a heavy blow.

Objectives: Find Ras Frostwhisper in the Scholomance. When you have found him,
use the Soul bound Keepsake on his undead visage. Should you succeed in
reverting him to a mortal, strike him down and recover the Human Head of Ras
Frostwhisper. Take the head back to Magistrate Marduke.

Objectives: Venture to the Scholomance and recover the Barov family fortune.
Four deeds make up this fortune: The Deed to Caer Darrow; The Deed to Brill; The
Deed to Tarren Mill; and The Deed to Southshore. Return to Alexi Barov when you
have completed this task.

Notes: The locations of the deeds are in The Reliquary, Main Hall, The
Laboratory, and the Barov Family Vault.

Objectives: Venture to the Scholomance and recover the Barov family fortune.
Four deeds make up this fortune: The Deed to Caer Darrow; The Deed to Brill; The
Deed to Tarren Mill; and The Deed to Southshore. Return to Weldon Barov when you
have completed this task.

Notes: The locations of the deeds are in The Reliquary, Main Hall, The
Laboratory, and the Barov Family Vault.

Phat Loot found in Scholomance

Phat loot is defined as Rare or better items found in the instance. In
Scholomance there are MANY rare items that drop. There are also several epic
items that are known to dropped in Scholomance.

One of the main reasons that people raid Scholomance is for the loot; especially
the high level set items that drop. Depending on the class set 3 - 4 items have
a possibility of dropping.

Another key reason that people run Scholomance is for crafting and quest items,
especially Dark Runes and Skins of Shadows.

Set Items

Set item farming is a huge reason people run Scholomance. Here is a list of the
set items found in Scholomance and the Mobs that drop them. Each name of the
item is setup as a link to our search engine, which will search out information
from all the WoW databases on the web.

About The Author

Byron has been playing and writing about World of Warcraft for the past ten years. He also plays pretty much ever other Blizzard game, currently focusing on Heroes of the Storm and Hearthstone, while still finding time to jump into Diablo III with his son.